Environment & Climate Change

27 Items

A woman holds a smartphone searching for direction at the Central Business District in Beijing,

AP/Andy Wong

Analysis & Opinions - Foreign Policy

The Realist Guide to Solving Climate Change

| Aug. 13, 2021

Stephen Walt writes that realism sees international politics primarily in terms of the great powers: It is their actions that shape most of what happens on the planet. It is the major powers that have done and are doing most of the damage to the atmosphere, and solving the problem depends more on their actions than on whatever Bolivia or Burundi or Brunei decide to do. This situation suggests that all-inclusive climate summits involving the entire U.N. membership list are less important than minilateral forums like the G-7 or G-20. 

United Nations Building

AP/Mary Altaffer

Analysis & Opinions - Project Syndicate

International Institutions Still Matter to the US

| Nov. 09, 2020

Joseph Nye writes that with less preponderance and facing a more complex world, the United States must exercise power with as well as over others and use its soft power to attract their cooperation. To do that, the United States will have to rediscover the importance of the institutions Donald Trump's administration abandoned.

Journal Article - Science and Engineering Ethics

On Effectiveness and Legitimacy of 'Shaming' as a Strategy for Combatting Climate Change

| Forthcoming

While states have agreed to substantial reduction of emissions in the Paris Agreement, the success of the Agreement strongly depends on the cooperation of large Multinational Corporations. Short of legal obligations, the authors discuss the effectiveness and moral legitimacy of voluntary approaches based on naming and shaming. They argue that effectiveness and legitimacy are closely tied together; as voluntary approaches are the only alternative to legally imposed duties, they are most morally defensible particularly if they would be the most effective in reducing the harmful greenhouse gases

Analysis & Opinions - The Huffington Post

Dutch Court Breaks Political Stalemate Over Climate Action

| July 7, 2015

"In an unprecedented action, a court has ruled that the Dutch Government must reduce its greenhouse emissions by 25%. The landmark case was initiated by some 900 Dutch citizens and the verdict offers a legal breakthrough in a longstanding political stalemate, underlining the potential power of a well-informed grassroots lobby group in the environmental policy area"

This photo, supplied by NASA, shows a portion of Canada's Northwest Passage largely free of ice as seen by NASA's Terra satellite on Sept. 15, 2007.

AP Photo/NASA

Analysis & Opinions - The Boston Globe

A New Ocean Passage, with Not Enough Rules

| March 26, 2012

"More water, more boats, more cargo, and no one in charge means a lot more danger....The lack of governance has been an issue for some time. The United Nations Law of the Sea Convention was an attempt to establish a framework for ocean management; proposed in 1982, it has the support of over 160 nations, and the last five US presidents. But the Senate has never ratified the treaty based on reactionary concerns about ceding land to Northern Europeans."

- Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

Belfer Center Newsletter Summer 2010

| Summer 2010

The Summer 2010 issue of the Belfer Center newsletter features recent and upcoming activities, research, and analysis by members of the Center community on critical global issues. This issue highlights the Belfer Center's involvement with the Nuclear Security Summit, which was organized by Center alumni Gary Samore and Laura Holgate.

President Barack Obama meets with China's President Hu Jintao at Winfield House in London, Wednesday, April 1, 2009.

AP Photo

News - Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

U.S.-China Relations: Key Next Steps

| May 1, 2009

With the United States and China expected to be the two dominant powers in the twenty-first century, it is essential that they actively manage their relationship to avoid military conflict, a group of distinguished Chinese and American scholars said at a major conference in Washington, D.C. The scholars—from Harvard Kennedy School, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and elsewhere—have worked together for more than two years to create a blueprint for a new relationship between the two countries.

Activists of the anti globalization organization attac are dressed like wolves in sheep furs while protesting against the upcoming world financial summit with a poster "Wearing a sheep fur still does not change the system" in Vienna on Nov. 14,  2008.

AP Photo

Analysis & Opinions - The Korea Times

Which Globalization Will Survive?

| April 13, 2009

"The world economy will shrink this year for the first time since 1945, and some economists worry that the current crisis could spell the beginning of the end of globalization....Globalization has several dimensions, and, though economists all too often portray it and the world economy as being one and the same, other forms of globalization also have significant effects — not all of them benign — on our daily lives."

- Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

Belfer Center Newsletter Winter 2008-09

| Winter 2008-09

The Winter 2008-09 issue of the Belfer Center newsletter features recent and upcoming research, activities, and analysis by Center faculty, fellows, and staff on critical global issues. "What should the next president do first?" is a question raised in this issue. Belfer Center experts respond to the question with advice on what they consider priority issues of national security, climate/energy policy, and the economic crisis.

The Winter 2008-09 issue also features take-aways from the Center’s recent “Acting in Time on Energy Policy” conference hosted by the Energy Technology Innovation Policy research group. In addition, it spotlights Belfer Center Faculty Affiliate Richard Clarkeand new Kennedy School Professor Nicholas Burns.